Why I’m Not a Booktuber

Booktube is a thing I just can’t get into. Don’t worry booktube, it’s me, not you. I don’t like to take the time to watch videos. I can read several blog posts in the time it takes to watch one video. The time thing gets to me and then I start getting irrational. I start sighing if people pause or say um or take time to breathe so they don’t die.

It isn’t just booktube. I prefer reading information over watching any video online. My favorite videos to watch are the ones with no talking. They have words over the pictures so you don’t even have to turn up the volume on your iPad. I am obviously not YouTube’s target audience. (Let’s not even talk about how long it took me to realize that when booktubers use YT on Twitter it is short for YouTube and not White. In my defense the people I follow I found through diversity talks so it made sense in that context. I just thought they were cranky with racists and not YouTube. Shut up, it made sense in my brain.)

I am impressed by booktubers though. You get all prettified. I do my blog writing in the morning before work. I have on a wrinkly bathrobe. I haven’t brushed my hair and I certainly haven’t put on any makeup. You sit in clean rooms with pretty bookshelf backdrops. My computer is in a spare catch-all room. Boxes are piled behind me in the closet that doesn’t shut fully. I get harrassed by pets especially if they haven’t had breakfast yet.

Even if I managed to get dressed in an acceptable outfit, brush my hair, do my makeup, and have something coherent to say, I would still probably never post a video. Ya’ll are cute. I don’t do cute. I’m way too judgemental when watching videos or pictures of myself.

I started thinking about the type of booktube videos I would watch and came up with this. Feel free to keep your volume down so you don’t have to hear the generic background music.

Hey, look! It is my first iMovie. Sort of like a book trailer but shorter.

12 Comments

I have a weird habit of putting on youtube videos and just letting them run while I do mundane (necessary) things. In that aspect, I love booktube! The only issue I would truly have with it would be the insane amount of pressure that I sometimes feel while watching haul videos. Do people really buy 50 books per month? That’s ridiculous!

I can totally relate to your experiences, I really don’t get this whole booktube thing either.

I’m always SOO impatient and it drives me nuts when people lure me by mentioning a book or something else I’m interested in in the video title or its description and then the video takes 30 minutes or longer and I can’t find the part where they actually talk about the thing I wanted to hear about.

I know it sounds cruel, but for me personally booktube is just a waste of time.

I would also never even think about starting my own booktube channel because a) I’m WAY too shy to talk in front of a camera and b) I just couldn’t get myself to invest so much time in filming and editing my videos 😀

I’m the same – I can’t get on with Booktube. I did do it for a bit but I don’t really see what it’s for. And the re-takes and editing felt like a lot of work. I’d rather do a post that I can drop in and out of and edit. Glad to hear I’m not the only one!

Everybody is different, no worries. Not everybody has to be a YouTuber or vlogger. While I do appreciate the written word, I have to admit I enjoy a few BookTube videos now and then after a long day at the office to relax. I guess it’s about the feeling of hanging out with a bookish friend who shares their book recommendations with you.
Honestly, the toughest part is getting past disliking the sound of your voice and your face on a recording. I did one video and I am not sure I will keep it up. I prefer blogging. But at least I gave it a shot, now I know 🙂 Maybe one day I could try podcasting?

Like you, I’m way too impatient for Booktube. I don’t like not being in control of how long it takes me to get through the post—I want to speed through some things and dwell on others. I love your video, though. Thirty seconds works for me. 🙂

I don’t mind watching some booktube videos, but I don’t think I would be a booktuber myself. I basically write all my blog posts in my pyjamas with all my hair scraped back, so it would be far too much effort as far as I am concerned to get myself looking acceptable to be seen every time I wanted to post! Plus I hate how my voice sounds in recordings!
Great post 🙂

I’m completely the same! I much prefer reading text to watching a video. Videos take too long, but also, I’m a visual learner, not an auditory one. So watching videos makes me impatient because of the time thing, but I also just zone out accidentally and end up missing half of what they say. And yeah, I could never do booktube either. Not only does it seem like a lot of work, I just feel really awkward in front of cameras like that!

I like watching booktubers, more so when I’m in bed and my eyes are tired from reading. But I don’t think you will find me on YT anytime soon. Nice clip that you made though, those are the kind of book trailers that I like.
Amanda.

I can’t do Booktube either. I also prefer reading blogs to watch video content, but I’ve gotten a little bit more into videos over the last year or so. I still am not a huge fan of watching video reviews of book reviews though.